Diagnostic & Assessments
Naturopathic doctors use conventional and naturopathic diagnostic tools for assessing health concerns and determining the most appropriate treatment program.
Thorough Health History
The initial intake with a Naturopathic doctor is typically one-and-a-half to two hours in length and includes a detailed history. A naturopathic doctor will take the time to find out about your family history, your lifestyle, the stressors in your life, past medical history, history of accidents or injuries and the significant events in your life that may have affected your health or well being. Often naturopathic doctors will use questionnaires to ensure that they are aware of the factors that may be affecting your current health status.
Clinical Nutrition
Understanding your nutritional status, eating habits and patterns and the type of food that you eat regularly is an important part of the naturopathic assessment. Naturopathic doctors will often take the time to assess the effect that diet is having on health and the body’s ability to process and tolerate the foods a patient may consume.
Previous Medical Reports and Diagnostic Testing
All medical reports, such as MRIs, X-rays or scans are valuable assets that a naturopathic doctor will use during their assessment of your health concerns. Naturopathic doctors will refer to another medical health professional when appropriate to ensure that all patients receive the best possible quality of health care and that all required information is available in order to fully understand the causes of a patient’s health concerns.
Comprehensive Laboratory Testing
Laboratory testing, including urinalysis, blood work and saliva testing, is an essential aspect of a complete medical assessment. Naturopathic doctors will use standard laboratory testing to provide further information for a complete naturopathic assessment.